Several options ran through Emma's mind as she disbelievingly stared at Cora.

Option number one: pretending not to have seen Cora and become a fulltime chatterbox to keep Regina distracted until Cora had left the restaurant.

Option number two: walk right up to Cora and ask her to leave.

Option three: sit tight and hope for the best.

And finally, option number four: haul ass and get Regina the hell out of the restaurant before she could spot Cora.

None of the options were very good. In fact, all of them would eventually lead to disaster.

Emma swallowed something. And like the coward she was, she desperately hoped that neither Cora nor Regina would spot each other. She hoped that Cora would walk out of there and none of them would be any the wiser. Was that really too much to ask? Cora was a busy lady, right? Always in a hurry to leave.

Emma silently begged the higher powers. Please leave, please leave, please leave.

"Emma? Querida?"

"Huh?" Emma distractedly turned her head and looked at Regina who was smiling at her. "What?"

"Hi," Regina chuckled, waving her hand exaggeratedly in Emma's face. "Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere. Sorry. I'm here." Except she wasn't. Her mouth talked and talked about nothing while she kept looking to the place where Cora was still standing by the counter. God, couldn't she pay for her meal a little quicker?

Emma felt as though karma was coming back to bite her in the ass. She had had naïve dreams of Regina reuniting with her mother in some way, but not like this! This was completely wrong. Everything about this situation screamed 'danger'.

"Emma."

"Sorry," Emma said, hastily turning her head and looking at Regina again. "What did you say?"

Regina seemed annoyed as she rolled her eyes. "Never mind. What I'm saying is clearly not interesting enough to keep your attention."

"Sorry," Emma repeated. "I'm here now. Promise."

"What are you even looking at?" Regina said, sitting a little straighter in an attempt to look past Emma and at the front desk.

"Nothing," Emma said, swiftly grabbing Regina's hand and hoped it would distract her. "I'm here. And I'm all yours. Promise." She gave Regina her sweetest smile.

Regina returned the smile and seemed soothed.

So was Emma. Until she heard the heels of Cora Mills clicking against the floor. In a moment, she would be walking right past their table in order to get to the door, and Emma debated whether she actually should lean over the table and kiss Regina. That would keep her occupied, right?

Yes. Yes, it would. But it wasn't enough to keep Regina occupied.

Emma's heart plummeted when she heard the clacking of Cora's heels coming to a stop. Right by their table.

The sound caught Regina's attention too. She turned her head. Emma did the same, and there she was, Cora. Standing right behind them. She had a shellshocked look on her face.

But if Cora was shellshocked, it was nothing compared to the look on Regina's face. It looked like her cheeks had been drained of color and her eyes were twice the size they usually were.

For a moment, it looked as though Regina was going to explode and start yelling, but then her wide eyes narrowed into thin slits. She tore her gaze away from Cora and looked at Emma again. "Come on, Emma," she said mechanically. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait," Emma said because over Regina's shoulder she could see that Cora was coming closer.

"I don't think so," Regina said tightly. "Come on." She reached for her crutches, but it was too late.

"Regina," Cora said, and for once every hint of dissatisfaction was absent from her voice. There was only disbelief. And a hint of something else. Worry? Or perhaps even fear?

"Cora," Regina dully acknowledged, and Emma saw how Cora's jaw tightened slightly. She clearly found it jarring to be addressed as 'Cora' rather than 'mother'.

"You're-"

"No," Regina interrupted. Her voice wasn't very loud, but nonetheless firm. "I'm not doing this with you. Leave us alone."

Cora opened her mouth, but no words came out. It was obvious that she was shocked at hearing Regina talk to her like that. She didn't move either. Just kept standing and staring.

"Fine," Regina sneered, reaching for her crutches once more. "If you're not leaving, we are." She hoisted herself up and hobbled towards the desk.

A very slight gasping sound escaped Cora as she stared at Regina's large belly. Clearly, she hadn't expected her daughter to be this pregnant either.

Emma too got up from her chair, but her legs weren't quite doing her bidding. Rather than following Regina, she for some reason kept standing. She could sense that Cora was looking at her, but Emma refused to meet her eyes.

Regina paid for their dinner and looked over her shoulder. "Emma, aren't you coming?"

Now Emma finally got a move on and followed Regina as she walked to the door. Even in her dazed state, she managed to hold the door open for Regina.

Reaching the street, Regina started to limp away from the restaurant in the most aggressive manner Emma had ever seen anyone limp in. It didn't look safe at all. Despite Regina's fast pace, Emma easily got in front of her. "Wait," she said, putting her hands on Regina's shoulders to stop her.

"What?" Regina said tightly.

"I'm scared you might hurt yourself," Emma said. "And…. Don't you think you should at least talk to her?"

Regina shot her a look of pure disbelief. "Why the hell would I want that? Emma, you can see that's Cora, right?"

"Yeah, I can see it's her, but I was just thinking-"

"Well, you thought wrong," Regina interrupted and lifted her chin. "I would like to go home now. Please." She began limping down the street again, and Emma had no choice but to follow her.

But Cora was not giving up. A slight noise had Emma looking back over her shoulder, and she saw Cora coming out of the restaurant. The older woman glanced in every direction before spotting Emma and Regina and hastily walking towards them.

"What?" Regina turned her head, glancing in the direction Emma was looking in. She let out a hiss. "What, she's following me now? What the hell is wrong with her?!"

"I think maybe she just wants to talk to you, honey," Emma did her best to soothe.

"Yeah well, I have nothing to say to her," Regina said. But she nonetheless stopped. Though it was possible that it wasn't for Cora's sake. She leaned heavily on her crutches and her breathing was a little rapid. Easily getting winded was one of the newest symptoms.

Cora easily caught up with them. Once she reached them, she stopped and looked at her daughter. "Regina," she said again.

"Cora," Regina mocked and balanced herself with one hand on her crutches while putting the other protectively on her belly. "What is it that you want?"

"You're… here," Cora said.

"As you can see. New York is a big city and yet I managed to be at the exact same location as you. Unfortunately. But you have nothing to worry about. It won't happen again, I can assure you of that."

Emma saw how Cora recoiled at that. A muscle in her jaw worked, but her voice still sounded hesitant when she asked: "might we talk for a moment?"

"Talk?" Regina let out a joyless laugh. "I don't think so. Besides, what's there to talk about? The last time we 'talked' you told me that you were cutting me off. And honestly, I've been very happy with that arrangement!"

More words that left an imprint. Cora recoiled again. Visibly this time. "Regina, I just want a moment to talk about-"

"We're going," Regina said tightly. "Come on, querida." She turned around and began limping away once more, and Emma shot Cora a look saying 'you missed your chance'.

Cora raised an eyebrow. Looked confused for a moment. But then it looked like a light bulb had been switched on in her mind, and Emma had absolutely no idea what it was that had dawned on Cora until Cora spoke up again:

"You haven't told her, have you?" she asked.

"No," Emma said simply.

"¡¿Qué?!"

Now Emma was the one to cringe as Regina turned around on the spot and sped-hobbled back to them. She looked first at Emma. Then at Cora. Her eyes were first wide. Then they narrowed again. "What's going on?" she asked dully.

It felt like Emma's tongue crinkled and died like a dead leaf. Now she suddenly realized how much she had fucked up by not being honest with Regina from the start.

"Emma," Regina's voice was full of insecurity. "What is she talking about? What is this?"

"I…" Emma squeaked and tried to find the right words. "Regina-"

"Have you been talking to Cora behind my back?" Regina interrupted. Now her eyes were wide again.

Emma was sure she could see her own doom in those eyes. "No!" she said quickly.

Next to her, Cora shifted slightly.

Regina's gaze darted back and forward between them.

"I mean, yes, but it wasn't like that-"

"So you have," Regina interrupted. Red spots of anger colored her cheeks. "Why? Why would you do such a thing when you know how I feel about her?"

"It wasn't like that!" Emma said again and immediately realized how fucking hollow the words sounded. "I promise, it's not like that!" worse still.

"Does she have something on you?" Regina asked dully. "Is she blackmailing you in some kind of way?"

"No!" Emma said.

Regina's nostrils flared. "If she's not blackmailing you into something, then it IS exactly 'like that'."

"No, it isn't," Cora said, speaking up for the first time. "The fault is mine. I was the one who asked Emma to-"

"To what?" Regina interrupted sharply, glaring at both of them. "Make sure I was at the restaurant at the same time as you?" she turned her full attention to Emma, and her mouth fell open. "Dios mio…. Is that why you wanted me to come with you to New York? Because you knew that she would be here?!"

"No," Emma said, repeating a word she had been saying far too many times already. She wished she could have sounded more convincing, but she felt guilty. Because her intention with this outing had absolutely been to 'accidentally' run into Cora's mistress. And that was almost the same as this.

"You're lying," Regina said and sounded utterly shocked. "I can't believe this. You're actually…. Lying!"

"No! Regina, I'm not lying, I swear!" Emma said, reaching out to touch Regina's arm to assure her.

But Regina squirmed away from the touch. "Then why don't I believe you? What are you hiding from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything, I swear!"

"Okay. Tell me what you and Cora have been talking about behind my back then!"

"I-" Emma desperately glanced at Cora in the hope to get some help.

But Cora just stood there, pale faced and with her lips pressed tightly together. Clearly fearing that Emma would reveal her secret at any moment.

"You don't want to tell me," Regina deduced. "Wow."

Okay, now every single alarm bell in the world was blaring in Emma's mind. That little 'wow' could kill!

Regina released something that sounded like a cold, disbelieving laughter. Then she turned around and started limping away once more. She was fast on those crutches! Emma actually had to jog to keep up with her. "Wait!" she called. "Regina, please wait!"

"For what?!" Regina half-yelled over her shoulder.

Once again, Emma managed to get in front of her. "Regina, please just listen to me for a moment," she said, once again attempting to touch Regina's arm.

And once again, Regina recoiled. "Fine. Tell me what the fuck is going on with you and Cora!"

"It's, it's, it's… complicated," Emma said. And immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"No. it's not. You tell me what's going on," Regina said flatly. "It's totally uncomplicated, Emma."

"I have been talking to Cora, yes, that's right, but one time and I had no idea she would be here, I swear!" Emma rambled.

For a moment, Regina looked a tiny bit less hostile. "Alright. And what were you talking to her about?"

"I… I…." Emma scrambled to find the right words. But they didn't exist. She couldn't tell Regina the truth without revealing Cora's secret. "I can't tell you."

Regina's nostrils started flaring.

"I know how it sounds!" Emma said quickly. "I do know that, but it's not really my thing to tell, it's Cora's, so if you ask her-"

"Do you realize what this sounds like?" Regina asked calmly. "It sounds like you're choosing to protect Cora's 'secret' rather than protecting me."

"No! God, no! I'd never-"

"Regina…" Cora had caught up with them. "She's telling the truth. I do have something that I haven't told you. Miss Swan- Emma- found out and has been kind enough to allow me to tell you myself."

"Tell me what? What the fuck is going on?!"

"Can't we go back to the restaurant?" Cora suggested. "Get off the street."

"Oh sí, because god forbid that someone should overhear us not being civil!" Regina snapped. "Or is your 'secret' so deep and dark it can't be said in the street?!"

Cora cringed. Regina had clearly managed to stomp on all of her insecurities.

"She's right, we can't do this in the street," Emma said. "You need to sit down."

"Oh, so now you're worried about me?" Regina sneered and glared at them again. "Look at you agreeing with her. This is looking more and more like an ambush! I'm not so sure I believe that you didn't know she was here…"

"I didn't," Emma said firmly and gently grasped Regina's elbow. "Come on. Please." She had seen Regina's face contort in pain twice already and she was worried that Regina was experiencing Braxton hicks again.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here," Regina muttered. "But I sure as hell don't want to be a part of it!"

Still, she followed, though. The three of them went back to the restaurant. Regina first, then Emma, and finally Cora.

The waitress seemed a bit surprised to see them again, but she was quick to put on a smile and a cheerful: "some dessert, ladies?"

"No thank you," Emma said. Dessert would be entirely inappropriate right now. "But if the same table is still available?"

"It sure is," the waitress smiled. "You just take a seat, and please let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you."

They walked over to the table. Emma and Cora sat down, but Regina didn't. Instead she turned and limped to the left.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked.

"To the bathroom," Regina snapped. "Is that okay, or do you want to tell Cora about it?"

With that she limped off, and Emma cringed when she heard the door to the bathroom close hard behind her.

Emma immediately looked at Cora and did her best to stare her down. "Tell. Her.," she hissed, struggling to keep her voice down. "Tell her, and tell her now! 'Cause if you don't…. I will." She drew in a sharp breath between her teeth. "I don't care that I'm-" lowering her voice again: "outing you, or telling a secret that isn't mine to tell. I'm sorry, Cora, but I love Regina. I want to start a family and spend the rest of my fucking life with her, and you and your secret aren't going to fuck that up! I am not like you! I actually care about the people I have in my life, and right now Regina thinks that I have betrayed her!" she drew in another breath. "And in a way, I have. I haven't been honest with her when I should have been. I should have focused more on being honest with her rather than keeping your secret. That's on me. Completely. But the rest of it…" her hands curled into fists and right now she felt tempted to do to Cora what she had done to Neal. Slap her hard across the face. "That's your doing, Cora! You're the one who chose to keep such a vital part of your life a secret from your own daughter…" she shook her head and breathed out as though she was angry bull ready to attack. "You know what, Cora? I wish that I had never called you in the first place! I wish that I hadn't felt compelled to inform you that your daughter ended up in the hospital! You clearly didn't care at all, and if I hadn't called you, I wouldn't have gotten involved in this ridiculous farce!" she glared at Cora. "Why didn't you show up at the hospital? Why?!"

Cora fidgeted with the napkin in a way that seemed highly out of character for her. "I suppose I feared that Regina would reject me."

"But you weren't sure!" Emma spat. "There was no way of telling how Regina would have reacted to seeing you, and you still chose to do fucking nothing, Cora! You didn't show up!"

"I regret that," Cora said stiffly.

Emma shook her head. "Not good enough. Not fucking good enough! What if she had been seriously hurt? What if she had miscarried…" her voice broke at the dreaded word. "Would you have chosen to stay away then?"

Cora didn't answer that. She only kept fidgeting with the napkin. But it was clear as day that she was uncomfortable. She was still very pale, and her eyes flickered uncharacteristically.

She reminded Emma of a trapped animal, but right now she didn't have the capacity to care about Cora's feelings. She kept pushing: "how can you be this cold? How can you live with this?! Being estranged from your daughter? Is that really what you want?"

"No," Cora said shortly. "It is not." She had gone quite pale again. Her eyes flickered to the place Regina last stood in.

Emma stopped breathing like an angry bull for a moment. "What are you so afraid of?" she asked. Because the look in Cora Mills' eyes couldn't be described as anything but fear.

"You wouldn't understand," Cora said stiffly.

"Try me," Emma challenged. "I'm pretty smart."

Cora pressed her lips together and said nothing.

That didn't stop Emma. "Cora, I don't know what sort of crap you went through when you were younger, but I know you've been through something, alright? I got that. Why else this charade?"

Cora still didn't say anything. But Emma could see that she had hit the head on the nail.

"You are handling this the completely wrong way," Emma continued. "Why are you playing this ridiculous game of hide and seek with your daughter when you could just tell her? She's bisexual, for god's sake. Why would she judge you? Perhaps she would judge you for all the lies you've been telling, which I totally get, but you being with a woman? She would not judge that."

"You cannot know that for sure," Cora said steely. "It's different when it is a parent who confesses… that. And you know how she adores her father and much prefers him over me."

"Perhaps its time to ask yourself why that is," Emma said plainly and stared Cora down. "And if you honestly think that you can solve that problem by pushing her away instead, then you're more delusional than I thought!"

Cora pressed her lips together again.

"How can you think that cutting yourself out of your daughter's life will help anything?" Emma pressed. "Do you really think that's the best solution?"

Cora said nothing. But the silent 'no' was as loud as though she had shouted it into the restaurant. And despite being angry, Emma felt a twinge of pity. It was clear as day that Cora was terrified of coming out to Regina. Hell, judging by how she had called it 'that' rather than being gay, she probably was afraid to admit it to herself.

"You need to tell her Cora," Emma said, voice a bit gentler now. "You need to be honest with your daughter. It's time. What does Malaina say to this? She can't possibly think that this is the way to do this, can she?"

She didn't get an answer. It had been a complete gamble on her behalf, but Emma could tell that she once again had hit the head on the nail. Judging by the look on Cora's face, it looked like she and Malaina actually had talked about this. Perhaps even argued.

Emma still sort of wanted to either shake Cora or yell at her until she saw sense, but she had completely run out of steam. She was tense and on edge and very, very sick of Cora Mills' ridiculous games of hide and seek. And she was also sick of herself and how she had approached this. She never should have made herself a participant in Cora's games. Never.

Of course she should have been honest with Regina right from the start. Had she been that, Regina wouldn't feel angry and betrayed right now.

Cora lightly drummed her fingers against the table. Clearly uncomfortable.

Emma didn't give two shits. Cora was going to have this deeply personal talk with Regina in the middle of a restaurant. End of story. She let out a deep sight and rubbed her face tiredly. Still struggling to grasp the disaster this day had turned into. It had started out so well. This morning, she and Regina had been perfectly happy. Regina had been laughing and flirting, and her biggest concern had been where to find the waffles she wanted for dessert. And now Emma and Cora had managed to screw up everything. Emma would be the first one to acknowledge her own part in this disaster. And she was prepared to fall to her knees and beg Regina for forgiveness if that was what it took. She was ready to do fucking everything in her power to sort out the mess.

She nearly shuddered when thinking about the way Regina's eyes had blazed with anger. They had been nearly black. And absolutely terrifying.

Emma was genuinely afraid. Was it even possible to fix this? Or was it already too late? Had she managed to screw things up completely?

She feared that the answer to that was yes. She had never seen Regina look so upset and betrayed.

She swallowed something and urged herself not to start weeping in the middle of a restaurant. Why the fuck hadn't she sorted out her priorities?! It was like she had developed tunnel vision and had focused on the completely wrong thing. By keeping Cora's secret, she had made herself Cora's accomplice. Why hadn't she been able to realize that before?

"Hasn't she been in the bathroom for… quite a while?" Cora asked matter of factly.

Emma was immediately pulled out of her thoughts about Cora's lies and her own stupidity. She reluctantly looked up and made eye contact with Cora.

"You have a point," she said upon realizing that Regina had in fact been in the bathroom for quite a long time. She was pregnant, but this was still longer than she normally would spend in there.

"I'll go and check on her. I think it would be best if you stay here."

"Naturally. I don't think Regina would appreciate it if we both came barreling into the bathroom," Cora said, pressing her lips together in a thin line.

"That's not what I meant," Emma said tightly. "I meant that I think it would be a fucking great idea if you stayed HERE. In the restaurant." If she insulted Cora by suggesting that she would be capable of doing a runner, too bad. Emma didn't fucking care anymore. She just. Didn't. Care.

She didn't stay long enough to see Cora's reaction either.

Emma stomped through the restaurant and opened the door to the bathroom. It was empty except from a blonde who was re-applying her lipstick in front of the mirror.

She began knocking on the closed doors to the toilet booths while murmuring Regina's name. She earned herself a strange look from the woman by the mirror, but Emma paid no mind to her. She continued her search until she reached the very last booth. She knocked on the door. "Regina?"

There was no answer. And taking a closer look at the door, Emma could see that it was unlocked. She pushed it open and peeked inside. Empty. Exactly like the other booths had been.

Regina wasn't here.

Emma felt a twinge of panic but tried to remain calm as she turned to the woman by the mirror again. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have seen a brunette on crutches, would you?"

The woman slowly lowered her lipstick and raised an eyebrow as she looked at Emma in the mirror. "Very pregnant, wearing dungarees and a pencil in her hair?"

"Yep, that's the one. Exactly."

Now the woman squinted. "She a friend of yours?"

"Girlfriend, actually," Emma corrected. While hoping that 'girlfriend' still was the correct term to use. It HAD to be. Right? Right?!

The woman whirled around on the spot and shot Emma a look that was pure judgement. "She's your girlfriend? Jeez, what did you do to her?!" she hissed and before Emma could say anything (honestly, what would that even be? She had about zero ways to defend herself right now), the woman continued: "she came in here BAWLING her eyes out and nearly tripping all over the place! Had me worried for a second because I thought she had gone into labor or something! But she said that she was fine…" the disbelief in her voice was evident, and Emma felt like the worst human being ever.

"Do you know where she is?" she squeaked.

"Sure I do," the woman said tightly, now aggressively re-applying mascara to her lashes. "She asked me if I could help her out through the back, and obviously, you don't reject helping a pregnant woman, so I helped her outside and got her and her crutches into a taxi…"

"A taxi?" Emma croaked, noting that she was getting slightly dizzy. "Did she... did she say where she was going?"

"Nope, just muttered something I couldn't understand. Think it was Spanish. Then she said thank you and the taxi took off." She pinned Emma with a scorching look that could kill. "If she wanted 'people' to know where she was going, I reckon she would have left through the front door, don't you?"

"How long ago was this?" Emma yelped and didn't even have time to cringe over the woman's obvious insult.

The blonde woman shrugged and sneered at Emma. "I dunno. Maybe… five minutes? You definitely won't be able to catch up with her. And judging by how much she was crying when she left, I reckon that's probably a good thing. Asshat."

"Fuck!" Emma cussed. She turned around and left the bathroom. Almost stumbled out in the restaurant. Found the backdoor and tumbled through it and out on the street.

Lots of people. Lots of yellow taxis. Absolutely no sign of Regina. Of course not. If she had taken off in a taxi, she obviously wouldn't be here.

Emma's heart plummeted as she frantically looked around. She fumbled and found her cellphone in her pocket. Found Regina's number on speed dial and brought the phone up to her ear. Waited while her heart sped up.

'Hola, soy Regina, no puedo contestar mi teléfono en este momento, pero por favor deje su nombre y número, ¡y me comunicaré con usted pronto!'

Straight to voicemail. Which could only mean one thing. Regina had switched off her phone.

"Damnit!" Emma cussed out loud and made several heads turn. She didn't care. She had just remembered what Regina had said moments before she went to the bathroom.

'I don't know what the hell is going on here, but I sure as hell don't want to be a part of it!'

If that wasn't a hint, Emma didn't know what was. She cussed loudly once more. How could she have been so fucking stupid?! How could she have put Cora's feelings and secret over Regina's feelings? Where the fuck had her loyalty been lying for the past many weeks? And the whole charade about hoping to 'accidentally' run into Malaina again? Seriously? What kind of idiot was she?! Why the fuck couldn't she just have been honest with Regina from the start? Why had she been so hellbent on protecting Cora when Cora never had something similar to Regina?

God, she should have given Cora an ultimatum. Told her to tell Regina the truth about her mistress and refuse to be the keeper of her secrets.

Emma grinded her teeth and tried calling Regina again.

She got the same result.

Straight to voicemail.

Emma left a message but doubted that Regina would listen to it. She couldn't blame her girlfriend (was Regina even her girlfriend anymore?) for having switched off her phone.

Emma had fucked up, and she had fucked up royally. And instead of apologizing properly for fucking up, she had somehow gotten it into her head that the three of them should sit down and have a nice, good talk about everything.

Fucking hell, she had to be the stupidest person on planet earth!

Because of her stupidity, her six months pregnant girlfriend who also happened to have a broken ankle and walk around on crutches, had taken off in one of the biggest cities in the world! And with her phone switched off… How the fuck was Emma supposed to find her again?

To Be Continued…..